BSE controls final report, 20 December 2000, section 15, Imports
75.The FSA should ensure that UK consumers are properly protected from the risk of exposure to BSE when consuming imported meat and meat products as well as when consuming domestically produced meat. It is clear though, (for example as set out in the July 2000 opinion of the EU Scientific Steering Committee (see paragraph 20 above)), that the same risk does not occur in all countries from which we import meat. We therefore cannot expect the same controls to apply across the board. What matters in this, as in other areas, is that imports should not carry a significantly greater risk than domestic produce. The general rules which relate to meat imports are described at Annex I.
76.No other country has an OTM rule53. However, the UK rule applies to imported beef (except for beef from the countries listed at footnote 26). It is, of course, very difficult to police the rule: the only effective check is for the UK importer to ensure that the imported beef complies with it. There have been no substantiated cases of the illegal sale of imported OTM beef. For reasons of due diligence, retailers and manufacturers of beef and beef products should continue to insist on appropriate import documentation to show that they are selling goods that comply with the rule. During the course of this Review, Local Authorities were instructed by the FSA to step up enforcement in this area. Initial results show an encouraging level of compliance. There is a clear need to keep under review the measures to detect illegal sales, and keep up to date the list of countries considered to be BSE free. The work on BSE status of relevant countries by international organisations such as the OIE and SSC should be used to assist here.
77.Imported processed meat products are likely to pose a greater risk than fresh beef as the OTM rule does not apply to these. The FSA is considering the practicality of extending the rule to imported processed products. This points to the need for strengthened country of origin labelling (see paragraph 80 below). The new EU-wide SRM rules and restrictions on older cattle entering the food chain will reduce the risk to UK consumers from imported meat products.
78.There is concern among consumers and the industry that imported beef and other meat is likely to come from animals fed on material which is subject to less strict controls than is the case here. In the rest of the EU, although there has been a prohibition on the feeding of ruminant material to ruminants, there has been no bar to feeding it to non-ruminants. The problems of cross-contamination formerly found in the UK are therefore likely to have been occurring elsewhere, possibly with similar results. Towards the end of the period of this review a temporary EU-wide ban on the feeding of MBM to all farm animals was agreed (see paragraph 55). We welcome this.
79.New EU-wide SRM controls were adopted in June 200054 which apply (from October 2000) standard rules across the Community for sheep and goats. For cattle, the UK and Portugal (the two countries currently classified as high risk countries) must apply controls to a slightly longer list of tissues than other Member States. However, this is the first time all Member States will have had to implement community-wide legislation in this area. Imports from Third Countries will also have to comply with the rules from April 2001. We welcome this, since it increases protection of UK consumers, and undertake to monitor reports from the EU Commission about implementation of the new rules across member states. The Commission is now making an emergency round of inspections to check on implementation in member states.
80. The FSA is already pressing for changes at European and international levels to ensure that consumers are given accurate information about the origin of the food they buy. This is especially relevant to meat products where independent research55 has shown that over three quarters of UK consumers think it is important to have country of origin labelling on meat. Under the EU-wide beef labelling system, which applies to fresh and frozen beef (including minced beef), it has been compulsory since 1 September 2000 to label beef to show the country or countries in which the animal was slaughtered and cut. From 1 January 2002 this requirement will be extended to include also the country or countries which the animal was born and raised. We welcome this. These rules do not apply to meat products. However, it is already an EU-wide requirement that the species of different meats in a product should be separately labelled (eg a small amount of beef in a predominantly pork product).
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53 - At the end of the period of this review the EU Council of Ministers agreed to introduce from 1 January 2001 new controls to prevent OTM cattle from entering the food chain unless they have tested negative for BSE.
54 - Commission Decision 2000/418/EC, OJ L158 p76
55 - Importance and Impact of Country of Origin of Food. MORI January – February 2000